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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwoSix" data-source="post: 6313428" data-attributes="member: 205">I agree, this is a very valid argument.  DPR is an average.  Average is a great tool when you're measuring against a large sample size, such as attacking a 100 HP monster where you do 1d12+4 damage, and it might take 20 attacks to kill it.  It's not as useful for measuring effectiveness against a monster with 10 HP.  The more relevant metric for those battles is "What is the probability of killing the monster in X attacks?"  The greatsword has a lower average number of attacks necessary, but it also has a lower probability of killing the monster in 1 attack.  And that probability, the chance to do high burst damage, is a valuable strategic difference.  We all know that an injured monster is just as dangerous as an intact one in D&D.  I would argue, in fact, that in a comparison between the 2d6 weapon and a hypothetical 1d12 brutal 1 weapon (for non 4e players, brutal 1 means re-roll 1s on damage.), the 1d12 weapon is obviously superior because of its greater burst potential, despite having the same average and range of damage values.</blockquote>